Booking An Appointment

Appointments can be booked online, on the phone or in person at either surgery. We offer a combination of appointments which can be booked in advance and those that can only be booked on the day, this is in part in order to comply with national guidelines but also to offer a fair and efficient service.

Challenges

We know it can be frustrating trying to get a doctor or nurse appointment, particularly when you are ill or in pain. While we do our utmost to provide the best access possible there are times where demand outstrips our capacity. Over recent years we have invested in more doctors and also using other specialists to enhance the service we provide including a clinical pharmacist and the training of one of our nurses as a nurse practitioner. We continually review the best approach to offering appointments and have recently increased the number of appointments which can be pre-booked as opposed to simply offering them on the day.

Urgent appointments

Where patients have urgent medical needs which require an appointment that day we will try to ensure they are seen, please be aware if our appointment books are full this will mean being squeezed in or seen at the end of a surgery. Squeezing one patient in can lead to an wait of 10 minutes for 16 subsequent patients. If you are offered such an appointment please be aware this is only to cover the one issue which the appointment has been made for and only request these appointments when needed. If you are unwell though please be assured we want to see you early

Our reception team will ask for details to pass to the doctor to help them make a decision about the best time to see you, please provide as much information as you are able to help with this. We manage these based on clinical need and are not able to do this for other issues such as work timings etc. Our doctors often see between 30 and 40 patients in a day which is well above what is considered ideal. This is despite having fewer patients per GP than the average practice. They will often then have to undertake all associated paper work etc beyond the normal times.

Our appointment lines:

The Grange Medical Centre: 0113 2951838

Ashfield Medical Centre: 0113 2951828

Appointments can be booked for either surgery by telephoning either surgery.

Appointment Use

Appointments should ideally be for one problem but if short then multiple problems can be addressed. If complex or requiring the longer the doctor may ask you to come back for a further appointment to discuss further. While we make every effort to stick to appointment times we also strive to provide patients with the time and service they need. Often the surgeries can run late due to squeezing in urgent extra's or because patients need extra care such as admission to hospital. We have reviewed our surgery times to try to mitigate a build up of such delays through the surgery but this is not always successful as each patient is different and we tailor our service to them.

Help the doctors and nurses by having planned what you are to say before appointments and explaining this clearly at the start, including if you hope to discuss multiple issues.

Booking online

Our practice offers the ability to book some appointments and cancel all appointments online. This is through a service from the providers of our secure clinical system called Patient Access.

Registering

In order to use this service patients must obtain a registration form in person from the reception desk of either surgery, this contains specific information to enable you to register and ensures only individual patients consent and have access to their own account.

Confidentiality

We would encourage you to be very careful if you share this with anyone else as they will be able to see any appointments you have booked (unless you change your password).

We do not allow this access for patients under the age of 16 years of age.

What Is Available

A selected number of GP appointments are available to book online for each day, we carefully monitor this and may adjust the amount available with time. We try to ensure a good level of access without discriminating against patients who do not have access to the internet. If there are no appointments available online there may still be some available if you phone the surgery or attend in person. The majority of our appointments are available on the day via the phone or in person, and some of these will be online.

Some nurse and healthcare assistant appointments are available to book online. We have made the following types of appointment available to book online:

Cervical screening (smear test)

Initial appointment for long term conditions annual review (clinic A) following practice invite

Cancelling Appointments

It is possible to cancel any appointment with a nurse, healthcare assistant or doctor using this system regardless of how the appointment was made. We encourage you to cancel with as much notice as possible so we can offer the appointment to another patient.

GP Appointment Types

Book On DayThese appointments can be booked in person, or on the telephone from 8.15am everyday. Some appointments are bookable on the internet.

Book in AdvanceThese appointments are available to book 1 week in advance. Some appointments are bookable on the internet

Telephone AppointmentsWe offer telephone appointments where a doctor will ring you at an approximate time.

Joint InjectionsThese are conducted by Dr Walling at the Grange Medical Centre, before these are undertaken for the first time patients should be reviewed in a normal GP appointment.

Dr Nathan also has regular clinics for knee injections.

Contraceptive ImplantsThese are fitted and removed by Dr Walling or Dr Morris on a Monday afternoon and Dr Carmichael at the Grange Medical Centre. Prior to insertion patients should see a GP to discuss the options and collect a prescription.

Contraceptive Coil

These are fitted by Dr Duodul. Prior to insertion patients should book an appointment with Dr Duodu to discuss the best options.

Ring PessariesThese are booked into a normal surgery with Dr Morris.

Our nursing team have the skills and knowledge to deal with a wide variety of matters, it is not always necessary to see a doctor.

Appointments with nurses include:

supporting and reviewing patients with the management of long term conditions such as diabetes, coronary heart disease, asthma, COPD and dementia

ear syringing

dressings

cervical screening (smear tests)

travel vaccinations

Spirometry

Appointments with Healthcare Assistants include:

NHS health checks

blood tests

ECGs

Some appointments are available to book online.

Home Visits

If possible please try to telephone reception before 10:00 if you require a home visit.

A doctor or nurse may phone you back as it may be that your problem can be dealt with by telephone advice, or that it would be more appropriate to send a nurse, or indeed arrange a hospital attendance.

House visits are only available for patients who are housebound because of illness or disability. They are not available to patients having difficulty getting an appointment at the surgery, or who don't want to pay for travel to the surgery.

Please remember that several patients can be seen in the practice in the time that it takes to make one home visit. There are also better facilities for examining and treating patients at the surgery.

East Leeds Home Visiting Scheme

The Practice is part of the East Leeds Home Visiting Scheme which is an innovative and enthusiastic team integrated with the practice whose focus is on patients who are housebound. This service was developed by our local practices working together to improve our population care. The team is carrying out long term condition reviews for housebound patients and also visiting them when they become unwell. They work in partnership with the practice and have been shown to have significantly improved the quality of care our housebound patients receive.